Can I be an honorary pagan?

[Rick O'Shez]

I have Irish roots and a deep reverence for nature, but I am not polytheistic. I have a strong background in Buddhist meditative practices.

Can you recommend any practices which would better connect me to the natural world and perhaps my Celtic pagan roots?

I live near the sea and walk by it every day.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

I have Irish roots and a deep reverence for nature, but I am not polytheistic. I have a strong background in Buddhist meditative practices.

Can you recommend any practices which would better connect me to the natural world and perhaps my Celtic pagan roots?

I live near the sea and walk by it every day.

I dont know about celtics, but have you ever thought about gearing your meditative practices forwards differeng parts of nature you are called to?

This would be kinda hard to do without a teacher, but have you tried living by natural means? What are folk traditions in your buddhist school?

Hopefully, others would give better advice

 

[Rick O'Shez]

I dont know about celtics, but have you ever thought about gearing your meditative practices forwards differeng parts of nature you are called to?

I've worked with the four elements, which are earth, wind, fire and water.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

I've worked with the four elements, which are earth, wind, fire and water.

This is my opinion. Others will differ. I feel the best way to come to paganism is through your family, what they practiced, etc. All pagan religions I know have some type of reverence for ancestors.

Do you have an altar? I know in my buddhist school we have altars. I also place family pictures on them. Thats were I do my "witchcraft" and meditation. Maybe thats a place to start...creating a personal altar?

 

[Riverwolf]

I have Irish roots and a deep reverence for nature, but I am not polytheistic. I have a strong background in Buddhist meditative practices.

Can you recommend any practices which would better connect me to the natural world and perhaps my Celtic pagan roots?

I live near the sea and walk by it every day.

I'm probably one of the few who believes positive theism is optional to be Pagan.

That said, you might want to look into modern Druidry. Modern groups such as OBOD (Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids) tend to be rather eclectic, with people of many religions (or none at all) being members. @Quintessence is a member and might be able to get you started.

 

[Princeps Eugenius]

Think of nature as not material or physical substance but a spirit, or spiritual concept, in your mind. Nature is much more than the things you see and smell. It is also an idea of an idealistic landscape or forrest. Imagine that and be amazed at how much it has to offer for us.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

I've worked with the four elements, which are earth, wind, fire and water.

Do you want to take up a pagan name to be pagan? Honoring the elements (as some buddhist sects due given their mish with other native faiths), the seasons are honored by every country in their own customs, deities range from hardcore to archetypes and metaphors. Is it the name/label youd like or is there something specific to paganism youd like to take up? If so, what?

 

[Quintessence]

Can you recommend any practices which would better connect me to the natural world...

Some simple suggestions (things I do on a fairly regular basis as part of my religion):

• Pay attention. No, really. Pay attention. "Nature" is literally all around us, all the time. Start paying attention to it. It's funny, put paying attention is probably the biggest gateway to the Mysteries there is. Just look. Listen. Watch. Don't judge. Just observe.
• Study the sciences. A lot. A lot a lot. Between paying attention and studying sciences, you will learn your place in the world. You will see how things relate and interrelate. And you will know the names and roles of the other-than-human relations around you, which is a sadly rare thing nowadays.
• Learn mystical skills. Specifically, I mean three skills: energy work, meditation, and journeying. All of these are exploratory tools that help you pay attention and experience in new and different ways. Book lore and sciences are great, but they only take you so far.
• Explore the arts. Get creative. Read stories. Tell stories. Weave meaningfulness into your life in a way that expresses your values and experiences. Write about the sunset, press leaves for an herbarium, compose a song for the storm spirits.

...and perhaps my Celtic pagan roots?

While I haven't listened to it personally (it's on my very long to-do list), there is a podcast here you might want to check out. Exploring the old lore is basically what you want to do here. But it is not enough to just read the stories. Enacting them in ritual (which according to some scholars, is what religion and particularly Paganisms are all about - reenactment of sacred stories or mythos), building their lessons into your way of life is really what makes you connect with it. Exploring on your own is good. Sometimes having a structure or guide to follow helps. I'm not sure what specific tools to suggest here, though Riverwolf is right that the OBOD Bardic grade course hits on all of these things. Doing that is a significant investment, and I'm not in a position to evaluate whether or not such a journey would be appropriate. Maybe scope out Billington's "The Path of Druidry" or something first.

 

[Sees]

Sitting meditation under a tree when able is a really good start and way to do both traditions...without it being any more one than the other.

Maybe most interesting ideas-wise will be stuff about their way of seeing and understanding things like "karma", more or less, and other ways it is similarly tied to Buddhist and Hindu traditions.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

Some simple suggestions (things I do on a fairly regular basis as part of my religion):

• Pay attention. No, really. Pay attention. "Nature" is literally all around us, all the time. Start paying attention to it. It's funny, put paying attention is probably the biggest gateway to the Mysteries there is. Just look. Listen. Watch. Don't judge. Just observe.
• Study the sciences. A lot. A lot a lot. Between paying attention and studying sciences, you will learn your place in the world. You will see how things relate and interrelate. And you will know the names and roles of the other-than-human relations around you, which is a sadly rare thing nowadays.
• Learn mystical skills. Specifically, I mean three skills: energy work, meditation, and journeying. All of these are exploratory tools that help you pay attention and experience in new and different ways. Book lore and sciences are great, but they only take you so far.
• Explore the arts. Get creative. Read stories. Tell stories. Weave meaningfulness into your life in a way that expresses your values and experiences. Write about the sunset, press leaves for an herbarium, compose a song for the storm spirits.

Thanks, that's very useful. I'll do some further research online and have requested an introductory package from OBOD.

I'm an amateur naturalist, so paying attention to nature is something I do instinctively, I also have a strong interest in science and astronomy.
On the mystical skills, could you briefly elaborate on energy work and journeying?

 

[Rick O'Shez]

Sitting meditation under a tree when able is a really good start and way to do both traditions...without it being any more one than the other.

I meditate by the sea sometimes, waves are very good to connect with.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

Do you have an altar? I know in my buddhist school we have altars. I also place family pictures on them. Thats were I do my "witchcraft" and meditation. Maybe thats a place to start...creating a personal altar?

I have Buddhist-style shrines at home. I'm pondering the idea of choosing a special place by the sea at the moment.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Some simple suggestions (things I do on a fairly regular basis as part of my religion):

• Pay attention. No, really. Pay attention. "Nature" is literally all around us, all the time. Start paying attention to it. It's funny, put paying attention is probably the biggest gateway to the Mysteries there is. Just look. Listen. Watch. Don't judge. Just observe.
• Study the sciences. A lot. A lot a lot. Between paying attention and studying sciences, you will learn your place in the world. You will see how things relate and interrelate. And you will know the names and roles of the other-than-human relations around you, which is a sadly rare thing nowadays.
• Learn mystical skills. Specifically, I mean three skills: energy work, meditation, and journeying. All of these are exploratory tools that help you pay attention and experience in new and different ways. Book lore and sciences are great, but they only take you so far.
• Explore the arts. Get creative. Read stories. Tell stories. Weave meaningfulness into your life in a way that expresses your values and experiences. Write about the sunset, press leaves for an herbarium, compose a song for the storm spirits.

While I haven't listened to it personally (it's on my very long to-do list), there is a podcast here you might want to check out. Exploring the old lore is basically what you want to do here. But it is not enough to just read the stories. Enacting them in ritual (which according to some scholars, is what religion and particularly Paganisms are all about - reenactment of sacred stories or mythos), building their lessons into your way of life is really what makes you connect with it. Exploring on your own is good. Sometimes having a structure or guide to follow helps. I'm not sure what specific tools to suggest here, though Riverwolf is right that the OBOD Bardic grade course hits on all of these things. Doing that is a significant investment, and I'm not in a position to evaluate whether or not such a journey would be appropriate. Maybe scope out Billington's "The Path of Druidry" or something first.

Let me as, is ODOB a training "place" with different areas in the US, online, or self acclaimed with other interested members?

 

[Iti oj]

I'm probably one of the few who believes positive theism is optional to be Pagan.

T@Quintessence is a member and might be able to get you started.

untill i came to rf that was the majority of people i knew in paganism

 

[Iti oj]

meditate on natural things. a stone, an acorn, a shell, a bugs exoskeleton, a plant, and my favorite a dried out gourd rattle.
literally talk to and hug the tress.

i greet the weather every day

 

[Rick O'Shez]

meditate on natural things. a stone, an acorn, a shell, a bugs exoskeleton, a plant, and my favorite a dried out gourd rattle.
literally talk to and hug the tress.

Trees are wonderful. I have some rowan trees in my garden, loads of red berries which the starlings will descend on very soon. I love rocks and stones, I generally bring back something from the places I visit. There are plenty of rocks on the beach too!

 

[Quintessence]

Thanks, that's very useful. I'll do some further research online and have requested an introductory package from OBOD.

I'd also check out DruidCast. I'd been listening to that for a long time before joining. If you like the flavor of DruidCast, you'll probably like OBOD. Unlike many podcasts, DruidCast has fairly professional production and a very consistent release schedule. Some of the talks from Ronald Hutton have been amazing, and listening to it always gives me inspiration for topics to create on RF.

I'm an amateur naturalist, so paying attention to nature is something I do instinctively, I also have a strong interest in science and astronomy.

You're probably halfway there already, then.

On the mystical skills, could you briefly elaborate on energy work and journeying?

Sure. Both of those do get used in OBOD, though they don't call them by those names.

Journeywork involves working with the otherworlds, or aspects of reality that most in our culture would simply call "not real." To put a more mundane perspective on it, journeying is basically using your imagination, except unlike mundanes, you take imagination seriously as an aspect of reality you can have a relationship with. Active imagination is a tremendously powerful tool, and one that our culture uses widely, even as it dismisses it under the label "not real." Whenever you tell a story and are immersed in the narration, that's a sort of journey you're being taken on. Visualization is another more familiar type of journeywork and is used heavily in mystical religious traditions. Being very good at meditation beforehand helps tremendously in learning to journey, because journeying is often more effective if you can alter your state of awareness (which meditation trains).

Energy work involves working with the unseen energies out there in the world, which is another thing most in our culture would call "not real." But again, to put a more mundane perspective on it, it's about developing intuition and getting a sense for the "feel" of things around you. Through energy work, you learn to become aware of the energy (sometimes called the "aura") of your own body, and can manipulate it to induce relaxation or power up excitement in a ritual. Another way it can be used is in designing ritual space - putting symbolic objects on an altar for example to make the "feel" of the space more conducive to your work. For me, energy work is often a tactile or pseudo-tactile sensation, a gut-level and almost emotional feel to things. Energy gets called many things across tradition - sometimes chi, other times prana - Nwyfre seems to be the analog in Druidry. Main thing is it should never be confused with scientific concepts of energy... because it isn't.

Let me as, is ODOB a training "place" with different areas in the US, online, or self acclaimed with other interested members?

I'm not sure I fully understand your question here, but OBOD is effectively an international organization based in the UK, with various groves and seed groups worldwide. Saw a recently published figure on membership, and I think it was ~17,000 or so, with big chunks of those in the UK and United States. There are yearly gatherings that happen, and if you're near a local group, they do stuff too, no doubt. The training can be all on your own through study of the gwers, or you can connect with a group in your area if you have one.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

Energy work involves working with the unseen energies out there in the world, which is another thing most in our culture would call "not real." But again, to put a more mundane perspective on it, it's about developing intuition and getting a sense for the "feel" of things around you. Through energy work, you learn to become aware of the energy (sometimes called the "aura") of your own body, and can manipulate it to induce relaxation or power up excitement in a ritual. Another way it can be used is in designing ritual space - putting symbolic objects on an altar for example to make the "feel" of the space more conducive to your work. For me, energy work is often a tactile or pseudo-tactile sensation, a gut-level and almost emotional feel to things. Energy gets called many things across tradition - sometimes chi, other times prana - Nwyfre seems to be the analog in Druidry. Main thing is it should never be confused with scientific concepts of energy... because it isn't.

Are there any specific methods you can suggest? I find that touching things is a good way of connecting, though with what I'm not sure.

 

[Iti oj]

Are there any specific methods you can suggest? I find that touching things is a good way of connecting, though with what I'm not sure.

being in nature. greeting plants and weather and etc as conscious beings, holding things . hmmm

 

[Unveiled Artist]

I'd also check out DruidCast. I'd been listening to that for a long time before joining. If you like the flavor of DruidCast, you'll probably like OBOD. Unlike many podcasts, DruidCast has fairly professional production and a very consistent release schedule. Some of the talks from Ronald Hutton have been amazing, and listening to it always gives me inspiration for topics to create on RF.



You're probably halfway there already, then.



Sure. Both of those do get used in OBOD, though they don't call them by those names.

Journeywork involves working with the otherworlds, or aspects of reality that most in our culture would simply call "not real." To put a more mundane perspective on it, journeying is basically using your imagination, except unlike mundanes, you take imagination seriously as an aspect of reality you can have a relationship with. Active imagination is a tremendously powerful tool, and one that our culture uses widely, even as it dismisses it under the label "not real." Whenever you tell a story and are immersed in the narration, that's a sort of journey you're being taken on. Visualization is another more familiar type of journeywork and is used heavily in mystical religious traditions. Being very good at meditation beforehand helps tremendously in learning to journey, because journeying is often more effective if you can alter your state of awareness (which meditation trains).

Energy work involves working with the unseen energies out there in the world, which is another thing most in our culture would call "not real." But again, to put a more mundane perspective on it, it's about developing intuition and getting a sense for the "feel" of things around you. Through energy work, you learn to become aware of the energy (sometimes called the "aura") of your own body, and can manipulate it to induce relaxation or power up excitement in a ritual. Another way it can be used is in designing ritual space - putting symbolic objects on an altar for example to make the "feel" of the space more conducive to your work. For me, energy work is often a tactile or pseudo-tactile sensation, a gut-level and almost emotional feel to things. Energy gets called many things across tradition - sometimes chi, other times prana - Nwyfre seems to be the analog in Druidry. Main thing is it should never be confused with scientific concepts of energy... because it isn't.



I'm not sure I fully understand your question here, but OBOD is effectively an international organization based in the UK, with various groves and seed groups worldwide. Saw a recently published figure on membership, and I think it was ~17,000 or so, with big chunks of those in the UK and United States. There are yearly gatherings that happen, and if you're near a local group, they do stuff too, no doubt. The training can be all on your own through study of the gwers, or you can connect with a group in your area if you have one.

Ah. UK. We have some groups further north of me...l mean a full state north. A few groups meet close but racket transportation is an issue. I dont know any pagan covens or groves (that I already researched in person and online) to contact. When I did the meetup thing people who showed up didnt know whst they believed in order to have a foundation to our community. Its very hard to live in fellowship as a pagan here (especially with no car)